In a tweet, Mr Chappell added: "A policeman just had to lift the 'Caution' tape for me to get to my road. How exciting. CSI Bedford."

Shortly before 7.30pm, a woman contacted Mirror Online, saying her friend had called the prison and been told officials 'still have no control'.

She said: "Someone I know is in there waiting to be moved to Category C prison, he’s a young lad and only just been sentenced. [My friend] just called the prison and they said they still have no control and can't access A wing."

She added that the male inmate claims that he has been given just one meal a day since arriving at the 'understaffed' prison 17 days ago.

Labour MP and shadow justice secretary, Richard Burgon, took to Twitter tonight to give his view on the disturbance at Bedford Prison.

(Image: South Beds News Agency)

He tweeted: "More troubling news concerning our prisons. The Justice Secretary needs to do more urgently to tackle crisis."

A Prison Service spokesperson told Mirror Online: “Specially trained prison staff are working with the emergency services to resolve an ongoing incident involving a number of prisoners at HMP Bedford.

“We are absolutely clear that prisoners who behave in this way will be punished and could spend significantly longer behind bars.”

The East of England Ambulance Service confirmed two crews were sent to the prison.

A spokesman said: "We are at the scene on standby at this stage.

"It's an on-going incident. We are not in the prison."

A police spokeswoman said officers were called to the prison shortly before 5pm.

A Twitter user took this photo of the scene outside the Victorian-built jail (Image: Twitter/@crake101)

She said: "Bedfordshire Police is currently assisting HMP Bedford following reports of unrest within the prison.

"We were called shortly before 5pm and have a number of officers at the scene working with prison staff to resolve the issue."

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service disputed reports of small fires inside the jail.

Shortly after 9pm, the service tweeted: "We are on standby outside Bedford Prison, no indications of any fires inside."

HMP Bedford, which has been on its current site since 1801, currently holds around 500 inmates, according to the HM Inspectorate of Prisons report in September.

They survey found the number of prisoners saying it was easy or very easy to get drugs had almost doubled since the last inspection of the jail in February 2014.

The number saying they had developed a drug problem while at the prison increased from 4 per cent to 14 per cent.

The HMP inspection also found that the physical condition of the prison was poor, with many inmates living in cramped conditions.

A file picture of Bedford Prison, where 'hundreds' of inmates have allegedly gone on the rampage (Image: Google Street View)